JAPAN OPEN: SAVVY GADE CONQUERS ARBI'S POWER

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January 17, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Top seed Peter Gade of Denmark overcame Heryanto Arbi's strong smashes and net kills with an effective short game today in the men's single semifinals of the 200,000 dollar Japan Open badminton tournament in Tokyo. Gade had been unable to cope with the jumpsmashes and net kills of the former world champion from Indonesia and had been badly beaten in the first game 4-15. In the second frame, the young but badminton-savvy Dane started serving low and short and got back into the match. The tactical change paid off for Gade as Arbi made error after error at the net. Gade won the second frame 15-2 and then took the decider 15-6.

Gade will face China's Luo Yigang in tomorrow's championship match. Luo outlasted a tiring Rashid Sidek of Malaysia 15-17, 15-7 and 15-4 in a 75-minute marathon of a semifinal match.

It was not all bad for the Malaysians, though. Men's doubles fourth seeds Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock upset world champions Chandra Wijaya and Budiarto Sigit from Indonesia 15-11 and 15-12 to gain a spot in the finals. In another upset, middle seeds Antonius Irianto and Denny Kantono from Indonesia beat teammates and Olympic champions Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja 5-15, 15-8 and 15-8.

Other semifinals results:

Women's Singles -
1-Ye Zhaoying (China) beat Dai Yun (China 11-1, 11-9
2-Gong Zhichao (China) beat Wang Chen (China) 11-3, 11-5

Women's Doubles -
1-Gu Jun/Ge Fei (China) beat Zelin Resiana/Eliza Nathanael(Indonesia) 15-5, 15-10
2-Tang Yongshu/Qin Yiyuan (China) beat Huang Nanyan/Liu Zhong (China) 18-15, 15-3

Mixed Doubles -
1-Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Chen Gang/Tang Yongshu (China) 15-8, 7-15, 17-16
2-Kim Dong-Moon/Ra Kyung-Min (Korea) beat Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 9-15, 15-7, 15-8

(mcoe/dsimmons)